Over ten-thousand women are trafficked from Nepal into India every year. It is necessary for this epidemic to be addressed; however, how does one depict such a heavy topic through symbolism while simultaneously painting hope and love? “The Wall of Hope” is a campaign led by Bev Hoffman that transforms deteriorating walls around Nepal with colors of love, destiny lines of freedom written into the hand prints of students and the dreams of people freed from trafficking. This week the World Painting Tour joins forces with the Wall of Hope to Paint both the European Union Consulate and the Australian Embassy in Kathmandu,

A young boy with broken sandals, feet torn and weathered from the street and hair telling the tangled story of his short life, approached the Australian Embassy wall where my team and I were painting the #WallofHope mural. The boy stared at the two painted children with a glossy gaze for some time. He watched each of the artists’ hands intently as our brushes married paint with wall. He then moved slowly and curiously to the buckets of paint,

With change in the air and turmoil shaking up the world, the orphans of the #Aashray home for children with HIV/AIDS in Jaipur, India, have inspired my being to the core with their smiles, their positive outlook on life and their desire to learn in every moment. An average life expectancy for children born with HIV is 25 years and these beautiful youth remind us all that it is not about the quantity of time we have,

Every child in our class is a “Slumdog Millionair”. They were not waiting around to win the lottery to get out of the slums, they earned their smiles by making a choice in life! They choose to find happiness regardless of the outside circumstances that are out of their control. They are millionaires of love! You can feel it in their joy and see it in their art! This last week the youth drew their designs, made their mosaics and painted their backgrounds without anyone telling them they cannot do something.

At the Surat airport in Western India Robert Markey and I were welcomed by Sagar and his incredible team from the NGO Pathshala NGO; a group of young adults who are “fighting against a ticking clock” to bring as much beauty into the world and into the hearts of the underrepresented youth as possible, before the pressures from society and family push them into marriage and the traditional lifestyle. These courageous volunteers of Pathshala work every day to plant the seeds of change,

We stepped foot into the abandoned hospital in Athens, Greece, and found Syrian refugee youth running around with photocopies of their hands and faces in distorted positions. They were having so much fun with the Spanish volunteers and the Xerox machine. Around Greece, hotels and vacant buildings have been converted into temporary refugee housing. During the introductory meeting with the director we learned that almost all of the hundred and sixty Syrians residing in this old hospital were mothers and children,

There are many paths to arrive at the same destination. Although our team is accustomed to roughing it and sleeping just about anywhere along the journey of life, one week ago we climbed aboard a large ferry and were escorted to a cabin with beds and hot showers. A unique experience for us all, and a perfect opportunity to rest up on the overnight cruz to the island of Lesbos, Greece, before a huge amount of work. The refugees, on the other hand,

The warden opened the gates of the prison and we entered, using colors as our currency. We shared a powerful day painting with bank robbers, smugglers and drug dealers, behind the bars, inside the prison, in the mountains of Northern Greece. At the end of the day we returned toHabibi.Works Creative Center to find that 30 stranded Iraqi refugees sat in the downstairs of Habibi.Works. Our temporary home, thanks to our hospitable German hosts,

Welcome To My House – Music/Art Video: Luc & the Lovingtons + Voices of the Children

Time and time again the real art happens in the now! In Za’atari Refugee Camp we were reminded that every moment there is a new choice, and in that choice, and if we listen, the brilliance of each moment burns bright. Nothing was guaranteed on our journey into the Middle East to film the first leg of the “Welcome to my House”

… Benjamin Swatez and Aaron Wagner each had a dream and were throwing in all their chips to live these dreams while both living in the Skagit Valley of northwestern Washington, only a 20 minute drive apart, without ever crossing paths. Benjamin, the art director/mentor of Chime In and director of Colors of Love: Healing Through Art, came across an international photographer in Goma, DR Congo,

INSTAGRAM

Instagram has returned invalid data.

ARTIST STATEMENT

As we are intertwined with all that lives, life reminds us that a saint and a mass murderer both exist within everyone. This was a very uncomfortable realization to come to peace with… If we are everything and nothing at the same time, the “good” and the “bad”, then who am “I”? Deep in the heart of the Amazon the answer was revealed to me. It is the POWER OF CHOICE that defines and re-defines our soul with every breath. Choose wisely what role you wish to embody, as you are an important player in this evolving super-organism we call life. We have all been painted into a story; now, which story do you wish to paint?
Read More